Life is Delicate
by AydynFTM
Summary: Akito realizes he has much more power over others than he thought, but at what cost? Hatori notes that that power could one day affect him as well. AkitoHatori FRIENDSHIP. MaleAkito. Please read?


This is just sort of a cute thing between Hari and Akito. Please don't think of it as yaoi. Akito's 7 in this, making Hatori 14-15, which is gross. Moving on! Yes, male Akito, because if I were to write...the other kind...I'd most likely explode and rain Dr. Pepper on everyone. Akito will always be a boy to me. Furuba's not mine!

Life is such a delicate thing, and once it's at your control, anything can happen. At a very early age, Akito Sohma learned this lesson, he was only seven when he realized so many lives around him depended on his decisions. Not only those of his Juunishi, although, as he'd proved many times before that they belonged to him and him alone, but lesser beings that if he could exert strength over them, their lives were in his hands. Whether or not he wanted such power, it was his. At a cost.  
It was a relatively warm spring day when Akito's current favorite bird balanced cheerfully on one of Akito's little fingers. Mimi, he'd named her. How he knew she was a girl was beyond his current baby-sitter and soon-to-be-doctor, Hatori's knowledge, but somehow Akito knew. Hatori sighed, slightly frustrated and slightly relieved. While his father was tending to other patients within the Sohma family during this year's flu season, Hatori was stuck watching Akito till his father's return. On the bright side, it was a few less hours he had to deal with his 'best friends'. The two had gone on another of Ayame's forced shopping sprees. He constantly went on about how one day he'd own his own clothing store; the thought quite honestly scared Hatori. The teenager returned his attention to Akito, who was murmuring 'good girl.' to Mimi when she chirped happily.  
"You can't tell from looks if this breed of bird is male or female, Akito-sama. Have you seen it lay eggs?" Akito shook his head and Hatori was still disbelieving; this frustrated the young god to a point where he yelled for someone to fetch Kureno for him.  
"Why do you need Kureno? He's not available right now, Akito. Next to you and Yuki, he gets sick the most." Hatori had tried reasoning with the boy but to no avail.  
"I don't care if he's in the HOSPITAL! Bring him here NOW!" Seven year old Akito stomped his foot and yelled, a typical tantrum and one Hatori wanted to avoid, lest his hearing suffer more damage.  
"Alright, I'll go get Kureno. Calm down." Hatori stood and headed for the door, but just as he reached out to the handle, his target, (and hopefully the one who could calm Akito down right now) walked through. As Hatori hinted, Kureno was slightly paler today, dark circles exaggerated his lack of sleep due to sickness.  
"I heard him shouting for me as I passed by." He explained. "What do you need, Akito-sama?" Kureno walked over to his young god and kneeled in front of him. AKito held up one hand, and perched on one finger of that hand was the small white bird Akito loved so much.  
"This is Mimi. Tell Hari she's a GIRL, he doesn't believe me!" Kureno looked from the bird to Hatori, and smiled sheepishly.  
"It is a girl, Hatori." he sighed.  
"Thank you Kureno. Are you happy now, AKito-sama?"  
Akito contemplated this question, looking at Mimi as though she has the answer. He huffed after a second.  
"I suppose. You're dissmissed, Kureno. Go away." he shooed him away with the hand not holding his precious Mimi, returning his attention to her. Kureno just smiled at his god's moodiness as it wasn't any new behaviour, and left, giving Hatori a slight nod before leaving.  
Akito still watched Mimi with a look of adoration Hatori wasn't used to seeing on Akito's young face. The boy held up his other finger to the bird so lightly perched on his other, reaching up to pet her head lovingly. The little creature shied away from his touch, watching Akito though black, beady eyes.  
Hatori watched with fascination as Akito pouted and attempted again to pet his new friend. This time, Mimi snapped at Akito's offered finger, obviously not in an affectionate manner. Hatori stood quickly as Akito yelped in a mix of fear and shock as the small beak nipped his fingertip. Once he was by the child's side, Hatori wasn't really shocked to see a small red bead forming on Akito's white skin. He was shocked, though, to see tears forming in the god's gray eyes. Akito wasn't the type to cry; he was the type to scream and pitch a fit.  
Reaching a hand out to Akito, he jumped slightly when Akito angrily shook the bird off his finger by practically throwing the poor thing across the room.  
"Akito-"  
"She BIT me! Why w-would she do that, Hari?" Akito was crying now, craddling his bleeding finger to him gently. Hatori lightly grasped the boy's wrist and drew his hand near him to nurse the cut as he explained.  
"Mimi's a wild animal, Akito. Some animals don't like to be held or pet by people and when they are, it scares them. She was just defending herself, that's all. She knows you're bigger than her, and therefore, a threat. You didn't mean to, but you frightened her."  
As Hatori's words sunk in, little Akito sighed, accepting the explanation. His once-bleeding cut had a bandage wrapped around it now, the sting had dissapated to a dull throb.  
Akito looked over to where he remembered throwing his rebellious pet. Sure enough, she hobbled on the floor, attempting flight several times, but was halted in her attempt; one of her wings stuck out at an odd angle. Everytime she tried to fly away, she barely made it off the ground before she came crashing down with a slight thud. Akito gasped as he ran over to where she last fell.  
"Mimi, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you! Please be ok..." his tears hadn't stopped as he very gently picked the suffering bird off the ground and craddled her in his lap. She sat without moving, her reflective eyes again staying glued to Akito's every move. Once she made absolutely sure he wasn't going to move (a process that took several minutes; it was as though they were having a staring contest.) she began tending to her injured wing. Hatori didn't move as not to startle either one, he just watched the two as they watched each other.  
Eventually, Mimi's head poked back towards Akito and her wing was much straighter than it had been. Although it wasn't back to normal, it looked relatively functional. She flitted up to Akito's hand once more and his face broke into a smile. It didn't last long.  
Mimi took flight, successfully staying in the air long enough to make it to the door. Hatori didn't expect what came next; he simply assumed Akito would cry, then fall asleep then wake up and be grumpy for a while. Maybe, if they were lucky, Mimi would return and Akito would cheer up till something else pissed him off.  
But what Hatori didn't expect was what really took place next. Despite his illness, Akito's reflexes were surprisingly fast as he reached out when Mimi flew off.  
"Akito, don't-" Hatori tried to convince Akito to let her go if she wanted, but it was too late. Akito's small fist closed around the smaller bird. The poor animal made one last desperate attemp to escape, wriggling around viciously and squaking loudly before it's movement ceased with a final, resounding snap.  
There was a single moment of absolute silence before all hell broke loose. Akito began screaming, shaking Mimi's lifeless body in both hands and continually sobbing for his lost pet.  
"No! Mimi's not moving! Mimi, it'll be ok, Hatori can fix anything, h-he's gonna be a doctor, he can make it ok!" Akito slid to his knees, clutching the dead bird. "Hari! Fix her, make her better! Hatori!" he screamed for Hatori's help, looking at him with pleading eyes that also demanded obediance.  
Hatori could only walk calmy towards where the boy sat with his dead bird, shifting through the most delicate of ways to break the news to Akito. When he kneeled next to him, Hatori's heart felt a little tug at the sight.  
Akito held the bird gently to his chest, he was still crying softly, tears streaming down his face as he rocked back and forth. The closest thing he had to a friend since Yuki abandoned him out of fear, unmoving because of him, hurt and it was his fault.  
"I'm sorry, Akito-sama. I can't fix her." Hatori said quietly, placing a comforting arm on one of the young god's shoulders. Before he could object further, Hatori continued talking.  
"You squeezed her too hard when you grabbed her." the dragon eased Akito's arms down with one hand so he could get a better look at the bird's body. Now not only was her wing twisted unnaturally, but her neck now mirrored the contortion.  
"She's...d-dead?" Akito whispered fearfully, his eyes widened with panic. Hatori nodded silently. "I don't want her to be dead...Kureno told me if I want something to live, it can't die. He TOLD me, Hari, did he lie? Why did he lie to me..?"  
"He didn't lie, Akito-sama. But that doesn't work with everyone, only the zodiac members. Like me, or him, any of us, you can keep us alive because of the curse. But not anyone or anything else. You can't bring her back, no one can. She's gone."  
Akito didn't speak. Hatori expected another tantrum, just more screaming and possibly crying, but Akito did no such thing. He just sat the bird into Hatori's outstretched hand. The only noise he made was a few sniffles once Hatori finsihed speaking. Holding the bird in one hand, Hatori helped Akito up and they started outside.  
Akito chose a spot for Mimi to be buried as Hatori instructed and, using a spade kept by the gardening servants, Hatori dug a small grave to place Mimi in. After she was beneath the earth, Akito grasped Hatori's hand with both of his. He'd finished crying long ago, but tears still streaked his pale face. "I didn't mean to...I just didn't want her to leave me. I'm so scared of being left...all alone. Yuki threatened to leave me, so I hurt him. Then her, and now...she's dead. If anyone tries to leave me...I always hurt them. I don't mean to, but...I just get so mad at them-"  
Akito's apologetic words were cut off by a sudden coughing fit that had him gasping for breath. Hatori quickly picked Akito up and brought him back into his room in which he was given a light dosage of cough syrup. Thankfully, his painful coughs were eased and he could breathe again. Once he was alright, Hatori led him to the bathroom conjoined to his room.  
He had Akito wash his hands, explaining as gently as possible that despite his love for Mimi, once a living thing was dead, it was different on the outside. It wasn't something he should've been touching; it could make him sick. They both washed their hands together, and once this was done Hatori held his hand out to Akito, who took it and followed his dragon back to his room. Hatori brought Akito to his bed where he laid down without speaking. His silence had started to worry the teen. Akito seemed numb; he just stared forward as thought seeing nothing.  
Before he got completely beneath his covers, Hatori walked to the table in Akito's room on which lay his book. After picking it up, he initially started for the chair across the room, However, before that could happen, Akito had clambered halfway out of bed and yanked Hatori's jacket towards him with one fist. The sight of his hand tightly closing around the pristine white cloth sent a painful jolf of rememberance through Akito's heart. Feeling a fragile bone snap within his hand gave Akito a feeling of both intense power and one of great fear. He quite enjoyed the feeling of controlling something's very fate, but the sadness of loosing his only friend, his friend that could still be here if it weren't for his temper, engulfed him at the same time.  
Hatori came to him, sitting on the bed as Akito pulled him down. Sitting his back against the wall, he allowed Akito to rest his head on his lap while he continued reading his book.  
He really couldn't get absorbed into the once interesting novel because a\ disturbing thought invaded his mind. Akito claimed that when anything tried to leave him, he always harmed it. Hatori couldn't help the foreboding feeling of dread as he pondered the young god's words.  
One day, Hatori would find someone he loved, someone he wanted to be with, or some reason to leave the Sohma house. Then he'd most likely get hurt becauase of it. Then he sighed.  
Nothing could be more important than the person keeping him alive, right?

This kind of had some, foreshadowing would be the right term, I guess, as to what happens in the series later on. First, Ayame owning a clothing store (the less morbid of the foreshadows.) Second, Kureno getting put in the hospital, and last, Hatori trying to leave and getting hurt. I'm sure you all already noticed that if you've read the whole thing, so...la. You get a cookie (Not really for I am poor.) Um..if there are any spelling mistakes, I'm sorry, you can point them out if you'd like, but I'm typing this on Notepad because my Word isn't working and even if I do read over it, there are still some I might not catch. Dyslexia doesn't really help either, does it? 


End file.
